December 19, 2006

2005 PINOT NOIR TASTING - December 16th

A big thanks to supreme hosts, Frank and Jill Murray, put on their big Pinot extravaganza this weekend in Orange County, CA. Thanks also to all of those winemakers who made the trek to show off their wines.  We loved having you there, almost as much as it looked like you liked being there.  The qualtity food and wine were just an embarassment of riches.

Speaking of wines, here's a re-cap, from my POV:

Native 9 - both were excellent, but the '05 was a show stopper and WOTD or me ('04 was #2)
Alta Maria - beautiful flavors from the Bien Nacido vnyd
Flying Goat - loved the Dierberg best
Hug - the Rancho Ontiveros was my fav, but the Orchid Hill ...Pinot from Paso?  Believe it!
Siduri - across the board impressive - in particular the RRV and Sonoma Coast bottlings.  More balanced to me than the Siduri '04s
Leigh Cellars - Gerry, you magnificent bast*&%...that Silacci is a knockout.  I'm nominating you as rookie of the year
Golden - very nice, and the biggest surprise of the day.  Showed a very nice touch with the RO and Turner vnyds
Loring - bucking the previous comments and swimming upstream, I liked the Lorings in this order: Cargasacchi, Clos Pepe, Rancho Ontiveros, Brousseau, Durrell, Keefer, Rosellas, Garys', Hungry Like a Llama, Naylor's.  Brian seemed less enthusiastic with '05, but this is a real nice portfolio of wines
Alcina - lots of ripeness in the Ramondo (I thought it must've been an '04 - but no), I liked the Sangiocomo Pinot best, followed by the Silacci and RRV; absolutely drop-dead gorgeous Syrahs from Bennett Valley and Carneros
Melville - the Verna's was beautifully fragrant, and the Estate bottling completely surpassed this
Pali - liked the Shea a lot, and the Cargasacchi-Jalama was drinking real nice, but I thought the Inman Olivet was excellent
Dain - this is some impressive offering.  Each and every one of these was excellent --  loved the RO Pinot, but esp the Amber Ridge and Hein Pinots, and White Hawk Syrah was beautiful
Clos Pepe - oh Wes!  What a treat -- the estate bottlings were excellent, but the VS bottlings were really packed!  Lots of juicy acids.
AP Vin - loved both the Rosella's and Turner bottings, with an edge to the Turner 
Freeman - my #3 wine of the day.  Just flat out gorgeous Keefer.
Sea Smoke - once again, the Southing shows that it can play with the big boys (as one w/m said to Poppy: I wish I could get my hands on some of that fruit)
Twin Oaks - I thought this was a bit thin and lean
CalStar - a bit funky and bitter for me
August West - well Ed, you did it again!  I didn't think you could equal the Freeman Keefer, but you did.  My #4 WOTD

Whites -  I thought the Littorai was killer, and very much liked the Maldonado Chard - though some were put off by the oak.  Didn't get to try the B/C.  The '03 Alban Roussanne was still carrying the oak (fine enough for me, but others...not so much).

December 12, 2006

OLDER BURGUNDY TASTING - December 6th

When Jay Selman called to ask if I'd be interested in tasting some older Burgundies he had, I thought, sure, why not. When he told me their ages, I'm sure I said something like, 'did you say Nineteen FORTY-five? Here was maybe a once in a lifetime opportunity for me to taste some really older Burgundies - one of which was about as old as me!

Jay, Steve Satz, Rusty Gaffney, Greg Sanders, Poppy Davis, and I met at Napa Rose in Anaheim for this big treat. The fills were about as we expected, low-to-high shoulder. We had decided not to bother with decanting these wines, imagining this would only disturb them too greatly. The corks did seem a little iffy, yet our waiter had surprisingly good results opening these bottles.

1990 Pol Roger Brut Champagne -
nice toasty aromas and flavors, but seemed more a bit short of bubbles. Despite the nice nose and flavors, w/o the bubbles...it comes up a bit short.

1996 Duval Leroy Brut Champagne "La Femme" -
crisp, lightly toasty and fruity aromas and flavors. Fresh, clean and crispy, worked wonders on the palate, if a bit short of complexity.

1945 Leon Violland Beaune 1er Cru "La Montee Rouge" -
shockingly good color -- I mean it was bright, clear, dark and with very little bricking. Lovely nose of red fruit, orange pekoe tea, and toast, with light forest scents. We were - needless to say - stunned by the full color of this wine. Poppy thought it bore more of a resemblance to a CdP with its brighter and deeper than expected fruit (almost Grenache-like), and most agreed that this was way beyond what we all expected to find in this wine. Absolutely Stunning!!

1946 Heritters Cosson Clos Des Lambrays Gran Cru -
nose of limestone, chalk, red fruit and mushroom that continued to intensify with each passing minute, along with an over-riding forest floor component. As we passed around the cork, we could easily smell the exact same thing in the wine. The marvelous nose was nearly duplicated in the mouth, except slightly more reticent.

1947 Justerini & Brooks Clos de Vougeot -
we were two for two so far, and all hopes were that this '47 would come through as well. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Steve got the first pour, and there was a hush as a lightly colored opaque liquid spilled out into his glass. He sniffed..."ughhhhh," he said, and we passed around the glass to verify that this wasn't just over the hill, but had actually left the county as well. Everybody sniffed, but nobody was brave enough to take a taste. The nose was something akin to formaldehyde meets wet dog. As if taking up the challenge toward the end of the evening (about 2hrs later), I did put some of this into my mouth more or less as an academic experience. Surprisingly, it was less obnoxious in mouthfeel than in aroma. More maderized and slightly sweet, which seemed to contrast with the vinegary nose.

1978 Camille Giroan Gevrey-Chambertin Primere Cru "Les Cazetlers" -
fascinating - this seemed to be very well balanced, with very nice fruit and acid. However, most of us felt that, while the wine hugged the fence really well, it never strode very far to become particularly complex or interesting. Arguably the best balanced wine of the night, it went well with the appetizers we selected, but never really rang all the bells.

1983 Haegelen Jayer Clos Vougeot -
lightly bricked, with nice aromas of fruit, tea, and more than a little French stink. Nice enough in mouthfeel and flavors, this wine performed much better than expected (given the vintage), with nice fruit and good balance.

1990 Domaine de la Pousse 1er Cru "Les Caillerets" Volnay "Clos des 60 Ouvrées" -
Wow! Big, fresh, full and rich in nose and mouth, with lots of depth. Still very young, I had the impression that there was a lot more here that just wasn't showing itself yet. Gorgeous flavors of dark fruit, forest floor, plus the unmistakable scent of whole cluster fermentation.

We had decided to try several different appetizers rather than order entrees, and that worked quite well. Some of our food accompaniments were: diver scollops, roasted rabbit, Ravioli filled with Braised Oxtail and Caramelized Onions, Braised Veal Cheeks and Crisp Sweetbreads, Roasted Breast of Pheasant, Roasted rack of Lamb.

Lastly, '45 is my birth year (though, with a December BD, the wine was a little older than I am), but I'm pleased to be holding up half as well as this particular wine!

What a night! Thanks to Poppy, Rusty and Jay for the all for the wines.